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Red Sox will hold off on September callups

Red Sox will hold off on September callups

OAKLAND -- Aside from Daniel Bard (who was recalled on Thursday) and Rich Hill (who will be activated Saturday), the Red Sox will hold off on September callups.

After all, prospects Jose Iglesias and Ryan Lavarnway are already on the roster and getting fairly regular playing time. Ryan Kalish also has been back in the Majors for the last week.

When Triple-A Pawtucket finishes the playoffs, there will probably be more roster additions. The Double-A Sea Dogs complete their season on Monday, and righty Clayton Mortensen is a player from that team who is expected to rejoin the Red Sox.

In truth, the whole concept of September callups isn't one that thrills manager Bobby Valentine.

"You play the entire season to build a competitive advantage between your team and the competition, and then it's thrown out the window in the last month of the season," Valentine said. "A taxi squad or a rotating roster would be a very similar situation. You can have five left-handed pitchers and always have three of them available. I don't think it's the right thing to do."

Valentine doesn't dispute expanding the roster. He just doesn't think September is the time to do it.

"I've always been a proponent of April expanded rosters so you get to see get to see guys in April play underneath the lights and pick a real team and then when you pick a real team, you go to battle with that team through the postseason," Valentine said. "This concept is a very old concept of expanding the roster. It should be revised, of course."

As far as the evaluations the Red Sox will be making on Iglesias, Lavarnway and others, Valentine said that September can be a valuable time to see what kind of players they can be.

"It depends on who you're evaluating and how you're evaluating," Valentine said. "If you're evaluating on numbers, then it's very hard. If there's people out there in the stands or in uniform who know a ballplayer from a ballplayer, then it's not so hard, I don't think."